Submit an Academic Petition or Appeal

Petition Letter: Dear Associate Dean (Academic),

I am petitioning to late drop DRAM 239 (W24). I have a long history of severe mental health struggles and in January I was taken to the hospital for the fourth occasion in my time at Queen’s. The situation preceding and resulting in this hospital visit also left me with a complete inability to swallow pills, so I was also completely unmedicated for about two months, for the first time in 7 years. Although I have now consistently been on new medication for a few weeks, I feel that I need to prioritize healing and working on my day to day functioning ability. My routine has been a vicious cycle of immense struggle causing me to fall behind in my classes and other responsibilities, and the moment I feel slightly better I have to focus all my time and energy into the things I missed while out of commission. This results in burning out much faster than I typically would because I have to, for example, do a month’s worth of classwork in one week. I can’t effectively continue to work toward improving my health or even acknowledge the positives of feeling better, because my stress levels are so high and all I can think about is the pressure to catch up. Once I’m at that point, it’s only a matter of time before my mental health plummets and my safety comes into question again. I think right now it’s really important for me to spend more of my time focusing on taking care of myself, meeting my basic needs, and continuing to attend my mental health appointments.

I am choosing to drop specifically DRAM 239 because I only want to decrease my workload by one course, and this one has caused me the most stress and is not a prerequisite for anything else I need to take, so it is the best option to drop. A class with such an emphasis on attendance is rather difficult for me when I frequently have days where I struggle to get out of bed. Another large issue is that the professor has not answered any emails I have sent this semester, and this barrier to communication increases my stress and anxiety a lot. I have accommodations that I am supposed to confirm the use of with my professor every time I need them, but among other things I have sent an “alternate deadline proposal” that he did not respond to. I have also directly asked him in person early in the semester to respond to my emails, which he confirmed he would but has not. This class relies entirely on class attendance - everything we learn is in person and there are very few online materials. With this in mind, it is very important that when I struggle to attend class (which is noted in my accommodations) I am able to communicate with the professor to find out how to catch myself up. This lack of communication has also made it difficult to go back to class when I know I am going to be behind, because it is stressful and embarrassing (especially for a person with severe anxiety) to not know what is going on in such a hands-on class.

I was unable to drop before the deadline of March 1st for a multitude of reasons. First of all, this is the first year that I have been at Queen’s that the deadline hasn’t been on a Monday, so when I knew the deadline was coming up I thought it was for Monday, not Friday. I actually made the decision to drop this course that very Monday, and sent an email to my occupational therapist about this, but it has of course taken a couple weeks to get my documentation together. Further, I did not know that as a student with a disability I can still be considered a full time student in a 40% course load; I thought I had to be in 60%. I only found this out the Monday after the deadline had passed, and it’s important for me to stay “full time” for OSAP and ODSP purposes. Lastly, I sent the “alternative deadline proposal,” which was created in collaboration with my occupational therapist, to my professor on Friday, March 1st, and he did not respond. As a student with QSAS, it is very important that the professors of my classes make an effort to maintain open communication with me, whether via email or meetings, because if they don’t I can’t confirm the use of my accommodations.

My plan moving forward is to continue to work with my health care providers to improve my mental health in order to be able to increase my academic commitment in the future. I see my therapist every week, my occupational therapist every 1-2 weeks, and my psychiatrist every 3-6 weeks. I also intend on taking some summer courses, but will be taking this upcoming summer off from school altogether with the goal of starting off the Fall 2024 semester with improvements to my mental health and an increased academic capacity after taking the time I need.